DESCRITION: The Analytical Neurochemistry and Spectroscopy Core is designed to measure brain metabolites in vivo and in vitro. The Core provides essential facilities and services for 50 federally funded research projects held by 21 investigators. The Core has five service areas with four faculty members responsible for the daily operations and quality control oversight. The three older parts of the Core include: HPLC analysis of biogenic amines, drugs, and amino acid neurotransmitter content of samples supervised by Dr. Michael Robinson; gas chromatography and mass spectrophotometry facilities under the supervision of Dr. Marc Yudkoff; and ~ET/SFECT imaging under the supervision of Dr. Abass Alavi. The newest core service is a cell-based assay system that offers fluorescence measurements of changes in levels of chemical intermediates in the apoptotic and necrotic cell death pathways. This part of the Core is supervised by Dr. David Lynch. Dr. Michael Robinson is the Director of this Core and the Associate Director of the Administrative Core. In addition to the administrative responsibility for this Core overall, he directly supervises the day-to-day operation of the HFLC analysis of biogenic amines and amino acid neurotransmitters. He is an acknowledged expert in this area of neurochemistry.